DUE January 18th: For Artist Spotlight #8, create an AWARENESS post about the AbEx painter you have been assigned to investigate more fully. 

• Just as you did for your Old Master, this is an opportunity to get to know about the artist's life, work, and process.
• USE this research to inspire YOUR and YOUR CLASSMATES painting process.
• Once posted, classmates will be assigned an artist(s) to investigate using the standard sketchbook "Artist Spotlight format," including answers to the questions you have asked.
• SPECIFIC DIRECTIONS FOR THE AWARENESS POST CAN BE FOUND HERE.

Watch this again if you need to.... it's a really good review of the AbEx movement that Franz Kline is associated with. Try to get a feel for the "mood" of the day and the role that artists like Kline took upon themselves. 

What should you know about Franz Kline's painting techniques? What ideas can you glean for your own work?

Read: Franz Kline Discussing Black and White (1960). After investigating color theory and simultaneous contrast - AND knowing the important role that color can play in a work of art.... consider why he took this achromatic approach. What approach might you take?

DEFINE:

• Gestural
• Iterative
• Action painting​​​
• Scumble

​AFTER CAREFULLY REVIEWING THE RESOURCES ASSIGNED ABOVE: Answer the following questions completely and with specificity to the provided resources, notes taken, personal reflection, and additional research as needed. Make sure to consider how this information is relevant to your current work and practice.

1. What were the Abstract Expressionists trying to express? 
2. How did Franz Kline arrive at abstraction in his work?
3. Why did Franz Kline like using house paint, an unconventional material for fine art?
4. Explain Kline's use of black and white. Will you use color or not? If so, which ones and why? If not, why?
5. Compare/contrast Franz Kline’s "Four Square" and Whistler’s "Nocturne in Black and Gold"

In the video below, watch the images as they move from real to abstract to non-objective... Piet Mondrian was mentioned in the first video and these are some of his paintings. ASK YOURSELF: At what point is the tree no longer the subject? Without a tree, what becomes the subject? How does this shift in subject affect the content of the work? How is this style similar to/different from realistic art? Think about these things are you prepare for your next project,  Abstract Expressionist painting!

Full name: ​Raffaello Sanzio (or Santi) da Urbino

Read and take notes:

(adapted from https://www.raphaelsanzio.org/biography.html)

• Raphael was one of the finest draftsmen in the history of Western art, and used drawings extensively to plan his compositions.
• Raphael's art marks "a shift of resources away from production to research and development".
• When a final composition was achieved, scaled-up full-size cartoons were often made, which were then pricked with a pin and "pounced" with a bag of soot to leave dotted lines on the surface as a guide.
• Most Raphael drawings are rather precise—even initial sketches with naked outline figures are carefully drawn, and later working drawings often have a high degree of finish, with shading and sometimes highlights in white.
• He was one of the last artists to use metalpoint (literally a sharp pointed piece of sliver or another metal) extensively, although he also made superb use of the freer medium of red or black chalk.
• In his final years he was one of the first artists to use female models for preparatory drawings—male pupils ("garzoni") were normally used for studies of both sexes

Additional biographical information - read and take notes:​  
​https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.1818.html#biography

Watch, listen, and take notes:

The 2 videos below are also really good to remind ourselves about the importance of art and the development of art history....

The video below is best watched in VR...otherwise, use a smart phone and physically move it around or use the track pad/mouse on a computer.

FIRST: Review this background information about Abstract Expressionism

THEN: Watch the video below (which is also embedded in the above resource, btw)

​NEXT: Find TWO Abstract Expressionist painters, beyond Franz Kline, to investigate. You may want to choose from the artists who you looked at while preparing for the D.C. field trip BUT there are many others (see the resources below for ideas)...Make sure to:

• Select artists who are considered important in the field AND who fall into the time frame of the original Abstract Expressionists (make sure that your artists are Abstract Expressionists!)
• Look for artists whose style you particularly admire so you can draw specific inspiration as you begin to paint.

THEN: After investigating these two artists and documenting your work in your sketchbook (DUE with SB Q2 on Jan. 13th), choose ONE to present on your blog (DUE January 20th). 


WHY IS AB EX SO CRITICALLY IMPORTANT?


Include in the blog post:
1) Name/dates
2) An image with credit line
3) Basic facts/background - biographical, stylistic, contextual, etc.
4) A helpful resource, which supplements the prior info. (video, website, article, etc.)
​5) Three questions that, when answered, would allow for review of the artist's place in art history and their specific link to Abstract Expressionism.